Speed up Ripping Process
Before diving off into loads of settings, it probably worth pointing out the following facts as to why DVD Ripping is slow in the first place.
DVD's use a video codec called MPEG2. Think of this has the way the video is stored in a file, how its layed out etc..
The video is stored in the file in a number of frames, think of each frame as a still 'snapshot in time' of the video.
What makes a video look smooth when you watch it back, is the amount of frames per second that are present. Hollywood film makers, produce all their films at 24 frames per second.
In certain parts of the world, (UK, Europe, Japan), we use 25 frames per second, other parts of the world use 24 and 29 frames per second.
Don't worry about how the 24 frames per second film gets converted to different standards and frames. That's another lesson all of its own!
So image a typical DVD movie of say 2 hours in length, using 25 frames per second. That's a whopping 180,000 frames in a 2hr movie.
So why do you need to know this ?
Well, your probably using our software to rip a DVD to a different format, such as DivX or for your iPod, PSP or Media Player
The only way this can be done, is for our software to process each video frame and convert it from MPEG2 to your chosen format.
With that out of the way, lets talk about how we can speed things up
Tip #1
Rip from a DVD stored on your Hard Drive
One of the biggest bottlenecks when ripping a DVD, is the actual DVD-ROM drive speed and how fast it will present the data into our encoding engine. Copying the entire DVD using software such as AnyDVD or DVD Decrypter to your hard drive and then processing the DVD from your hard drive is much much faster.
Tip #2
Use Threading
If you have a dual or quad core CPU, then turn on Threading (General Settings). Set the number of threads to 4 or 8. This will dramatically speed up ripping especially when using H.264
Tip #3
Don't think biggest is best when using Video Bitrates
Don't instinctively choose the highest video bitrate available, as this is very inefficient in terms of speed and video file size. There is a diminishing point of return, ie settings your bitrate at 3000 k/bits doesn't mean the video will be twice as good as one encoded with 1500 k/bits. Experiment with small chapters from the DVD. We personally recommend from devices such as Archos Media players, use around 1500-1800. iPod and smaller devices, use 1200 k/bits. Full screen DivX for PC playback, use 2048 k/bits. But as we said, these are own personal choices.
Tip #4
Choose the right codec
H.264 is the codec on everyone's lips at the moment, as its visually fantastic, can create smaller files, but all of this is at the price of encoding. H.264 is very CPU intensive, compared to say encoding to MPEG4.
Tip #5
Turn DVD Access to Turbo
One of the options in our software is to set DVD Access to Turbo. Doing this authenticates the DVD drive in a different way and you can see a big improvement in DVD conversion speed. The downside, is that it doesn't work with all DVD's and DVD-ROM drives. Try it, if it fails, just turn the option back to Normal.
Tip #6
Use the High Quality Setting only when needed
The High Quality setting in our software, will in general create higher quality video files, but at the cost of speed. Sometimes it can be very difficult to tell the difference between videos created with the option on and with the option off. Turn it On if your a purist and want the best possible video, and don't care about how long it takes. Turn it Off if you want a excellent video and want it fast.
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